[R-390] While we're on the subject of GFCIs

[rbethman]

If you go to the link put up earlier, you will find that if a GFCI is 
installed "backwards", no power would come out of the GFCI.

They have a "Line" side and a "Load" side.  If these are wired in 
reverse, no power will come out.  (Guess how I know!)

So I had to go back and change the hookup.  The "old" one wasn't 
marked.  So I took a 50/50 chance and got it wrong the first time.

Bob - N0DGN


On 3/21/2013 4:40 PM, Jim Haynes wrote:
>
> An article in the April QST by Jerry Paquette clued me that the reason
> my GFCI in the washing machine circuit keeps tripping at odd hours is
> that it happens when I tune up the antenna on my KW rig.
>
> It was only recently that I learned of the existence of AFCIs - arc fault
> circuit interrupters.  These detect arcing in the load, which could
> generate a lot of heat and start a fire.  That was a big problem when
> aluminum wire was being substituted for copper in house wiring.  I 
> suppose
> it could still be a problem in case of a bad outlet or bad plug or any
> number of other things.  I had a light socket that arced because a rivet
> was a little loose.  These days receptacles and switches are marked that
> they are good for Cu-Al or for Cu-only.
>
> Apparently the latest code requires using AFCIs on, basically, all the
> kinds of circuits which don't require GFCIs.
>
> One of my friends who is in the business of investigating electrical
> accidents and fires had a case fairly recently where a woman in a 
> bathroom
> somehow touched a live circuit and got a shock with some severe 
> consequences.  My guess is that one of her slender fingers touched a
> blade of a plug while she was plugging it into an outlet.  The landlord
> almost immediately had the GFCI replaced.  Which means there is no 
> telling
> if the GFCI might have been installed backwards, or if it was defective.
>
> Jim W6JVE
>
> jhhaynes at earthlink dot net